Holy SHIT. This was really good, and it makes me really excited to read "The Maidens" later. The twist on this was kinda confusing to me at first, because I didn't realize that it was telling two different time periods, BUT IT WAS REALLY COOL once I wrapped my head around that. Everyone here SUCKS and I loved reading about it. The interspersion of the diary entries, the slow reveal of how Fucked Up the psychotherapist is... oh, man, this was such a cool read and I'd highly recommend it.
Did not finish. An update: I'm about halfway through, and I'm honestly not sure if I'm going to finish it. The first half of this book gave me "Blair Witch Project" vibes, which I LOVED, but the second half follows the one survivor as he deals with more stuff, and I just... don't know if I care enough to finish it. I don't like the character, and so far the vibes aren't Off enough to keep me engaged. I'll keep listening to it on my commutes, but if I don't finish it before my loan is up, I won't be too upset. Second update: Yeah, I gave up. I tried listening to the rest of it, I really did, but I just did NOT care anymore. In my mind, the Creature killed them all in the forest, and they were never heard from again. Oh, well!
This book is visceral and bloody and fucking GOOD. I am neither trans nor autistic, but it was SO cool to read from the perspective of a trans autistic man. There was gore. There were spirits. Everyone is messed up and everyone has flaws. I had to cover the pages with my hands to stop myself from skipping ahead whole paragraphs because I was so engrossed in this book. I do really identify with the MC wanting to be a surgeon - I wanted to be a doctor for so long, and it hurts that I'm not. Anyway, 10/10 book, I'm absolutely reading more by this author because holy SHIT does he do well with body horror and grisly descriptions that just make you Uncomfy.
Alright, I wanted to read this book because my coworker described it as "heinous", and I was like "sign me the fuck up." Honestly, the only part of it that was heinous to me was the double-penetration bit with the two brothers. Sure, it's a lil fucked up because they're her cousins (but really only legally, because the uncle is her step-uncle, so no blood relation). Sure, there's a weird age gap dubious consent concern when she fucks her step-uncle. But you know what was heinous? Den of Vipers. Four men at once. Like, this was just NOT as spicy as I was expecting. And for the first half of the book, there was NOTHING! And the last quarter of the book was also nothing! Stupid and emotional - I wanted SMUT, dammit. Anyway, this book was fine. I'm glad I didn't buy it, though.
Alright, so this author is phenomenal, BUT I do think I had a better experience with the physical book than I did with an audiobook. I read "The Silent Patient" with a physical book, but this one I listened to, and it really affected my enjoyment of the book. The first 20% of the book was really slow because it was all backstory for the main character, but it was important to building up my impression of her. I feel like I wouldn't have felt like it was such a drag if I had read it. I didn't feel that way with "The Silent Patient." But regardless, this book was fuckin' good, AND it had a really cool tie to Silent Patient!!! I was so excited! I thought I would be able to guess the killer, but I was wrong as hell, and I'm so glad I was. This was so cool.
Started reading this and couldn't get into it at first, so I'm putting it on hold for later!
I wavered on whether or not I wanted to even include these in either this website or my Storygraph account. I've read most of this series before, so I didn't want to count the books towards my reading goal, but I also wanted to gush about them somewhere, so I figured I'd put it here but not there!
Anyway, I LOVE this series. Kate Daniels is a mercenary living in Atlanta, GA, in a time where technology and magic go in waves - when one is up, the other doesn't work at all. She takes down big bad monsters using swords and magic, she gets beat up a lot, and she's not perfect. She and the love interest don't get together until book 4, and leading up to it is just SO much sass. She's sarcastic and funny and takes no shit, and would literally die for those she loves. It's great! I really like the magic system in this world, and I love me a modern fantasy. There's vampires (but now how you'd expect). There's shapeshifters. There's family drama. It's got it all! I really love this series.
I sorta burned myself out on reading after reading the entire Kate Daniels series in like four days, so I took a bit of a break. Tried to read some books and couldn't get into it. This book came up on Libby and I decided to give it a try, and I think it was a great reintroduction to reading! It's a sort of grimdark fantasy - I've been warned that many people will die, and the author does not shy away from greusome descriptions of battles and violence. I really enjoyed this book! I like the different points of view, and I'm a surprising fan of one character who is really good at torture, and NOT a fan of some others. There's some really interesting dynamics and I'm excited to read the next ones! I went ahead and bought the next two of the trilogy, so I'll be reading those soon. I'm honestly a bit reminded of the Stormlight Archive.
This one took me a surprisingly long time to read, and I'm not really sure why! I really enjoyed the whole thing, and there was never a time where I dreaded picking it up again... I just simply didn't! So it took me longer than expected, but I'm excited to read the third book. I've already got it downloaded and everything.
It's funny, I should have expected that Jezal's face would get fucked up. You can't spend a whole page and a half waxing poetic about how nice your jaw is and then expect it to NOT get smashed in with a mace. You've got to be realistic about these things.
Wow, I took... quite a long break. I finished "Before They Are Hanged" in early February, and now it's the end of March. I guess I just got burnt out on books. But I finally sat down and said "NO. I'M GONNA READ, DAMMIT" and read this! I did really enjoy it. I'm a huge fan of moderately-sentient houses and dark fantasy, and this was both of those. The romance was cute, if a little rushed - but it's a short book, so I'll forgive that. LOVED the casual bi and lesbian rep in this one. I'm also a big fan of small town stories; how everyone knows each other, and how people tend to look the other way when they know something is wrong. This was a fun read, and I'm glad I finally got around to it!
One book per month... I might not reach my goal of 24 books this year! Anyway, this book was a neat read. It's about the history of our universe, and the most likely way it'll end. (Spoiler: it's probably a heat death, and that is billions of years off. We're fine.) It reminded me of how much I truly love space, and also how much I don't like math... turns out cosmology requires a LOT of math. Sorry, Kid Me, we can't be a space scientist. Kinda made me want to take an astronomy class, although I'm afraid it won't be as interesting as I'm hoping for, since it would just be an intro, and not the really cool shit like dark matter and dark energy and vacuum bubbles. If you're easily freaked out about the inevitable death of the universe, maybe don't read this one, but hey! We can't control it anyway, so no need to worry about it!
I was talking to my mom about how I was having trouble reading lately. I just haven't felt the urge to actually finish a book, or even open new ones. Not really sure what's going on there. She suggested a genre change. I mentioned that I had tried that; I got sick of fantasy, so I read a nonfiction book, and was trying to read a romance, but I just couldn't get into it... and then I thought about a thriller. Maybe a tense page-turner was exactly what I needed. Turns out I was right! This book was a wild ride from start to finish, and had me actually gaping at some spots. I still don't know who was telling the truth, or even how much of it! I burned through this book in like three hours. Very cool read. Starts out as a seemingly innocent meeting of two women who share a birthday (same day, same age, even the same hospital), and then two people end up dead and one hospitalized, and one goes on the run. Intense!
I was recommended this book by a coworker, and it was a bit of a slow start for me at first... mainly because the MC is only 16 when the book starts. And he's ALREADY MARRIED. Talking about how much he loves his wife, thinking he's hot shit. But he very quickly learns he is NOT hot shit, and that's when I started to really like this book. It's got elements of Hunger Games type dystopia, and it's written really well. The slow descent into corruption as he becomes something he hates, and that his family wouldn't recognize... it's very good. I'm looking forward to reading more to see how this revolution goes. It definitely is not going to be pretty, and I appreciate that.
I feel like I've been waiting my whole goddamn life for this. Thank you, sir Paolini, for giving me sustenance and nearly making me cry three separate times while reading this book. Let! Murtagh! and Thorn! Catch! A damn! Break!!!! They deserve the WORLD!!!! (But not in the conquering way.) He set up for a whole new arc, and I'm really excited to see where it goes. Apparently he's planning more stuff in this world, and I cannot fucking WAIT. I'm feral. Fourth Wing was fun, but Paolini IS the template. The OG.
I'm BACK, BABY! Four books in a month! That's more like it. Anyway, I'm now uncomfortably invested in this book series. There's been so much death. It kinda makes me miss Sanderson... Maybe I'll go back to the Stormlight Archives once I finish this series, if only because I know that NONE OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS DIE. What kind of Game of Thrones bullshit is this? These people don't deserve this. AND IT'S ONLY BOOK 2. I brought this book with me to the gym, and I expected to only spend 30 minutes there because I'm a weenie, but I ended up staying the whole hour because I was distracted. So I guess that's the pro-tip for workouts. Anyway, I'll be starting Book 3 soon... I'm nervous.
HELP. This book was such a fun romp and I am SO MAD that it's book 1 of a trilogy AND BOOK TWO ISN'T EVEN OUT YET. At first I wasn't 100% sold on this book. When I read the title, it made me think of superheroes and superpowers - like a villain mastermind kind of thing. But it's fantasy! So it took me a bit to reconcile that, but it was a very fun read. Both of the MCs are absolute idiots who love each other and don't know about it. It's very fun to read their inner dialogue about the other. The book ends on such a goddamn cliffhanger, but the female MC is about to go raise hell, and I'm mad that I can't read it yet. It's very much "dark and brooding falls for sunshine person", and also Persephone going to beat someone's ass while Hades holds her flower. I love it. Very silly and fun, and I'm looking forward to reading more!
This was a Book of the Month book I grabbed in June, and I really enjoyed it! It was a quick read, only about 300 pages or so, but it was packed with twists that I really enjoyed. There's THREE whole murderers in this book! It was a nice break from the Red Rising series, in which lots of people die, too.... I love that I'm taking a break from death by reading about murder.
I really wanted to get into this one. I've enjoyed some of King's other novels (namely "Carrie" and "The Institute"), so I was hopeful about the Dark Tower series. But I got 70% through this book and just... didn't care to finish it. When my loan was up at the library, I just let it leave. I just could not get into it. I dunno. It felt exceedingly prose-heavy, and a little outdated. Oh well.
This was actually a reread! I read this book not long after it came out and LOVED it, but I found out that there was a sequel, so I wanted to reread it, and I'm so glad I did. I remembered some key things, but completely forgot about the ALIEN INVASION THREAT? WHICH IS A LITTLE IMPORTANT? Anyway this is a super cool scifi that begs the question: how do you define "you"? If you integrate 14 generations of memories and emotions into your being, are you still the same person, or something new? How are you supposed to react when you've never met someone, but the voice in your head knew them and loved them? GODS IT'S SO GOOD anyway I've got the second book on loan already and I'm really excited to read it. I just wanna finish this other book I'm reading really quickly, since I'm almost done.
My second non-fiction book! This was a neat history of all the morally/ethically fucked up things that have been done in the name of science. Icepick lobotomies on people who didn't need them, graverobbing when study on cadavers was forbidden (leading to straight up murder so that they can sell the bodies), the inescapable presence of slavery and its influence on African ecologocial studies... this was a really cool read, and cleared up some common misconceptions! (Yes, the Tuskeegee Syphilis Study is mentioned.) Turns out I like nonfiction stuff just fine, so long as it's science!
MAN. MAN, THESE BOOKS. THESE ARE SO FUCKING RAD. Mahit and Three Seagrass FINALLY got together. I really liked how this book swapped POVs so that we could get insight from multiple characters. I liked the inclusion of the Teixcalaanlitzm specifically; it was cool to see how people like Three Seagrass thought about things, versus Mahit. I ALSO really liked Eight Antidote's POV, that was very fun. This was a great continuation of the first book, and leaves an open enough ending for me to ship my little heart out for Mahit and Three Seagrass. I devoured this book. The aliens were cool, the new Teixcalaanlitzm were cool, the internal dialogue with Mahit and Yskandr was super fun.... GAH I really loved these books, and I'll probably reread them.
This was SUCH a cool blend of like... the good/cool aspects of Sword Art Online (hello, fully immersive VR video game, I want you desperately) and the all-too-real potential future of corporate-run civilization. No government, only megacorporations. I was kinda reminded of Shadowrun? The implants, and the constant connection to the internet... It was also a cool insight into the potential future of streaming, like on Twitch and such. The fucking ENDING OF THIS, THOUGH? HELLO???? Man it was simultaneously PERFECT and also a TOTAL CLIFFHANGER. Also sorta bittersweet. I understand why 22 had to die, but it still makes me sad.
Help... This book was entirely predictable, not at all surprising, and I ate that shit right up. I've read this exact same story like at least 5 times and I still love it every time. Am I aware that these tropes are getting a bit overused? Yes. Am I gonna read the whole series anyway? Yes. I will say, the sex is written quite well. Also, I'm a sucker for nicknames, especially ones like "Princess."
Well, I didn't think I was one for trashy romance novels, but here I am, reading trashy romance novels. What I liked about this one is that it didn't beat around the bush at all - sex started in like the first chapter. Fun enemies to lovers, with the predictable misunderstanding/breakup, then the groveling to get her to come back. Nothing deep, nothing crazy, just a lot of hate fucking. Easy to read, a nice break from the intense sci-fi stuff I was reading.
I'M LOSING MY MIND. AAAAHHHHHH. This book was such a cool premise even to start - hunting/exorcising ghosts, being deemed "holy" yet having to fight for your place... like the premise is so fuckin' cool. AND THEN. AND THEN 22 SHOWS UP. HELLO???? I didn't realize this was gonna be set in the same world as Firebreak, but it is! It's like hundreds of years in the future!!! And we get more background of 22 and 06, and we STILL don't get 22's name because he doesn't remember it because he's a GHOST!!! God this was so fucking cool. The callbacks to Firebreak were so rad and I was screaming to my friend who rec'd this to me (hi, Darwin!) every time something came up that I recognized from Firebreak. I HIGHLY recommend reading Firebreak first, then reading this. This still makes sense without Firebreak, but it is SO cool to notice things from the first book.
I picked this up because it was already available as an ebook through my library, and I wanted to read some horror. WHOOOO BOY, DID I GET HORROR. The vampire in this story is not your typical vampire, and the horror is more about people not believing women when they say something is wrong. There's the constant undercurrent of dread that comes from being around a man who you KNOW is evil, but can't prove to the people you should be able to trust. The fear of your kids being in danger and not being able to do anything about it. Being gaslit and ignored. GOD, it was so good. I'm also a really big fan of stories that are set in the deep south, and this one is set in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, which I actually lived near for a time! There's just something about the honey-sweet Southern Hospitality that makes such a GREAT setting for horror. (On a similar note: "The Boatman's Daughter" is a great Southern gothic horror book.) Anyway, I truly loved this, and felt super icky during some parts! So good job, Mr. Hendrix!
I was expecting something along the lines of Dead Space, and instead got something more akin to Alien, if the facehuggers were instead microscopic organisms that permeate your blood and slowly take away your sense of agency. It was a really neat psychological horror and I really enjoyed it! But I kinda wish it hadn't ended the way it did. It felt kinda rushed? But it was fine. I just wanted to read a horror book, and this did not disappoint!
Spooky month means spooky books! Another by Hendrix, this one is a haunted house story set in a knockoff Ikea. It's all fun and games until someone cuts his own trachea out. Since I somewhat knew what to expect from this author, the turn towards "really dark and fucked up" wasn't quite as jarring this time. I REALLY liked the details of the little infographics about furniture types changing over the book, going from "cushy storage chairs" to "torture device to heal your soul, even if it breaks your body". That was probably my favorite part about the book. It was pretty short, too, and easy to read. Much shorter than the Book Club one. But I really enjoyed it, and it had some good classic body horror stuff. Really neat! I'll probably continue to read stuff by this author, I'm liking him a lot so far.
Once again, this book was entirely predictable, and I ate that shit up. Of COURSE the FMC is descended from gods. Of COURSE she's probably the actual princess of both kingdoms. Of COURSE she's super powerful and getting stronger by the day. I was reading these through my library, but honestly, I'll probably buy them all because I'm having fun with them. I'm kinda reminded of the Throne of Glass series, which I really enjoyed. So we'll see how it goes!
Well, I fell for it. I bought all of them on Kindle. And tore through them. I read through them so quickly (and on vacation, so this is like... 2 weeks post-read) that they kinda blended together and I honestly don't remember what happened in this one. I think I liked it a lot, though. The power ramping in Poppy sure is something. It's honestly a little excessive, but whatever, I had fun.
This one got pretty heavy. It was a little tough to read through some of it, but I REALLY like how Kieran and Poppy's relationship has changed. Also, I fuckin' called it. I KNEW the three of them would fuck at some point. (Did that happen in this book? I think so. Not entirely sure.) The Blood Queen is interesting, but I don't feel any sympathy for her at all. She's an asshole.
Alright, I'm gonna say it: I didn't like this book. It was just a re-telling of Book 1 from Cas's perspective. Which is fine, I guess, but honestly, it could have been a novella or something. It just seemed like a waste of my time. Why did you make me read ALL of book 1 again? Like, literally the entire goddamn book. I get having SOME chapters told from his perspective, that can be fun (bonus chapters from Fourth Wing, anyone?), but this was just too much. I was really annoyed by the end of it. I'll still read the next book when it comes out, because Plot will be happening again, but god, this was a disappointment.
This was the most aggressively mid dark romance book I've ever read. Honestly, I was disappointed. You're telling me that you're giving me a story about a mafia princess who doesn't KNOW she's a mafia princess, who falls for the other mafia boss, and gets corrupted enough to kill her own father, but you're writing it in a way that is SO BORING that I just don't care? Come on. You could have done so much better. Hook himself was great, I liked the backstory and the adaptation of the ticking clock and the crocodile, but everything else was just mid. I even cringed at how cliche some of the lines were. Overall, I'm very glad I didn't buy this book.